English

This course examines a range of issues rooted in language and culture: language and thought; identities, self and ‘othering’; cultural diversity in verbal and nonverbal communication; language, gender and sexuality; popular culture and global cultural flow; language and power; globalization and language planning and policy in different cultural contexts.

The course introduces a wide range of issues concerning the role of cinema in the British cultural context, as distinct from and in connection with the cinemas of Hollywood and Europe. The course focuses on the following aspects: cinema as an economic system operating within an international audio-visual market; cinema and national identity, particularly representations of London as Metropolis; genre in cinema; and cinema as a formal system, considering questions of authorship, narrative and audience.

The course reviews the major competing theories of international organizations over time and examines the history and current operations of a wide range of international institutions and organizations. Special attention is focused on developing a generalized understanding of the forces contributing to or inhibiting the effectiveness of international institutions and organizations and of the forces shaping the preferences and behavior of states in the world politics. 

This course examines China's major traditions of philosophy and practice through English translations of key texts as well as authoritative secondary studies. It covers diversity and polemics in early Chinese thought, developments in Daoism, Buddhist thought and influence, and Neo-Confucian (Daoxue) thought.

This course examines visual art practices and movements within the social, economic, philosophical, and political contexts of Europe and North America, circa 1900-1960. Concepts to be considered and interrogated through a decolonial, feminist, and Marxist lens include: abstraction, the avant-garde, expressionism, modernity, modernism, primitivism, and the readymade.

This course examines language in relation to migration in the contemporary multilingual world. It looks at how language is used by people on the move, and by those with whom they interact, in areas including health, education, the law and the workplace. It also explores how language practices are shaped by face-to-face and mediated encounters and by the constraints of political and institutional contexts. Key questions are: What languages and forms of communication get used, when, why and where? What linguistic factors enable and limit access for migrants to services and resources? What are the consequences?

This course examines animal diversity & evolution, from primitive metazoans to vertebrates. It describes the fantastic diversity of animal and life histories in an evolutionary and phylogenetic context. Students will become familiar with body form & function, & life history characteristics of the major groups of animals.

This version of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience includes an Independent Study Project (ISP) done under the direction of the instructor. The minimum reading is between 20 and 25 articles from established academic periodicals/magazines. The ISP is 10-12 pages and counts for 1/3 of the overall grade for the course. In this course, students learn to use neuroscience methods to study the cognitive development of infants, children, and adolescents. The course begins with the various methods used in developmental cognitive neuroscience, such as pediatric and infant MRI, EEG, and fNIRS. In this context, students uncover and discuss the benefits and challenges of each approach and the feasibility of studying different age ranges. The course then examines typical brain development as assessed with in vivo MRI (including trajectories of white & gray matter over the life span). Next, are more specific aspects of cognitive development such as the development of visual processes where students learn how learning to read affects the brain and how regions involved in face processing develop throughout childhood to support important social functions such as face recognition. Topics are approached using a mix of formats including active participation, working in subgroups, presentations, short lectures, and videos.